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Fix traffic by shutting down freeways?

I was prepared this morning for a horrendous commute. I didn’t get it. Instead, it was a typical morning slog through the 101, moving but slow, maybe even a little faster than normal come to think of it. Word on the street is that so many people were afraid of horrific commute that they packed the Metrolink and other public transportation outlets.

This only supports the theory of tough traffic love as the solution to the region’s traffic woes. See, people adjust to the incremental changes. Traffic gets slight worse every year, but not in big jumps, just little one. Five minutes here, 10 then. We just accommodate the changes by adjusting our lives in other ways. Dinner a little later; leave home a few minutes earlier. All the money we’re putting into freeways is only to help us maintain it at the current tight capacity. The high-speed rail and other forward thinking things are coming anytime soon.

So what can be done? How about shutting down a freeway for good? Not that it would ever happen, but that type of catastrophic event has immediate and noticeable effects. People make radical temporary changes, that sometimes lead to permanent life changes They telecommute that week and find that they can work it into their skeds maybe two days a week. They find a job closer to home. They invest in an iPhone and monthly metro pass and incorporate commuting time into their workday . They quit their crazy lives, buy a ranch in rural New Mexico and homestead.

CalTrans has moved pretty quick on this freeway catastrophe, so it’s unlikely to change any behavior in the long-term, but perhaps next time.